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The Mazda 2 weighs in at 2286 pounds, 238 less than the next-heaviest Fit and only 235 pounds more than a Lotus Elise, the second-place finisher of our best-handling test you’ll find elsewhere in this issue. Why are the Fit and, especially, the 2’s platform-mate Fiesta, so much heavier? Surely it’s not just sheetmetal, even though the Mazda is shortest by 4.6 inches compared with the next-smallest Fiesta. But you wouldn’t know that from an inspection of the 2’s interior, which actually has two cubic feet more of overall interior volume than the Fiesta’s.

The Mazda 2’s weight advantage means that with a mere 100 horsepower on tap from its 1.5-liter engine, acceleration trails the Fit’s by just 0.4 second through the quarter-mile run. And the weight advantage pays dividends in the dynamics department with winning finishes in skidpad performance (0.82 g) and the lane-change maneuver (64.3 mph). The Mazda 2 hustles through corners with Miata-like athleticism and plenty of steering feel. We like the manual shifter—the way it snicks through the gears reminds us why we started our “Save the Manuals!” campaign.

The interior is reminiscent of the Miata’s as well, with a simple, elegant instrument cluster and center console. There’s no window dressing in the Mazda 2, but all the materials look and feel of high quality. The driver’s seat offers good lateral support, but one pair of sensitive, older cheeks found the seat bottom to be too soft.

Low-speed bumps reveal areas in which the Mazda 2 managed to save on weight. The way the suspension shudders over some road irregularities merely emphasizes the 2’s lowest as-tested price. Cost cutting shows up in the features department as well: no telescoping steering wheel, no rear curtain airbags, and no headrest for the center passenger in back. Rear-seat headroom is also the slimmest. In our practical stowage test, the Mazda holds the fewest longneck beer cases and the shortest length of pipe. College students thinking about a Mazda 2 take heed: Multiple trips may be required to pick up party supplies.

If the Mazda 2 gives up a little to the competition in space and refinement, it gives more back in mile-per-mile driving enjoyment.